Celestial Event

[SoulChild]

A delightful display of planets and the moon will occur on New Year's Eve for anyone wishing to step outside and look up just after sunset.


Venus, brighter than all other planets and stars, will dangle just below the thin crescent moon in the southwestern sky. It'll be visible -- impossible to miss, in fact -- just as the sun goes down, assuming skies are cloud-free.


Soon thereafter, Mercury and Jupiter will show up hugging the south-southwestern horizon (just above where the sun went down) and extremely close to each other. Jupiter is very bright and easy to spot; Mercury is faint and harder to see, but it'll be apparent by its location just to the left of Jupiter.


Jupiter and Mercury will set less than an hour after the sun, so timing your viewing just after sunset is crucial. You'll also need a location with a clear view of the western horizon, unobstructed by buildings, trees or mountains.


All the planets, along with the moon and sun, traverse an arc across our sky called the ecliptic, which corresponds to the plane in space that they all roughly share. For this reason, you could draw an imaginary line from the general location of Venus and the moon, down through the other two planets, and the line would point to where the sun went down. This line could also initially help you find Jupiter and Mercury.

[Kiran]

Thanks for sharing Soulchild...we also got a fabulous event a couple of weeks before christmas...mars and venus crossed the moon and were extremely bright to the naked eye!!

[Narnia]

You know, for the last couple of months, Jupiter has been looking really magnificent in the Southwestern skies, it sometimes looks like a flash light in the sky! I really enjoy viewing Jupiter, through Paul's telescope....it's so amazing to see the moons orbiting around the great planet and the gaint red spot....gives me the shivers everytime!

Mars, Venus, and of course our beloved Moon have been dancing the great dance of the heavens beautifully in front of the ever awe-inspiring background of the stars!

[Kiran]

Yes the weather here has been really cold and frosty and the sky is just amzing when its clear like that!! We're nearly at the full moon so I guess we'd better watch Peter!!!!
Just kidding Boss!!!! I know how you just lurve the full moon!!!

[God's Toy]

You know me too well Lorri. Funny thing is i felt this one was on the way last night for some reason.

sorry for being off topic.

[Kiran]

You're not really off topic...its all about celestial things and how they affect us could kinda be part of that!!! We'll let you off this time!!!
HUGS

[SoulChild]

Hi guys! I was watching a documentary last night on the history channell. And since 2012 is approaching, there will be many stories about what is to come. But during the program, they stated that there will be many celestial events to come as we approach this date. So, please, anyone, and everyone, lets keep each other up to date. I am truly a stargazer....but, since it is cold, I don't really get out the house much...and in the summer time the mosquitos keep me inside as well. So, it would mean alot to me, if you guys know of some type of sky show that is to come. Please post it here

and

[SoulChild]

space.com – Fri Jan 9, 12:56 pm ETIf skies are clear Saturday, go out at sunset and look for the giant moon rising in the east. It will be the biggest and brightest one of 2009, sure to wow even seasoned observers.


Earth, the moon and the sun are all bound together by gravity, which keeps us going around the sun and keeps the moon going around us as it goes through phases. The moon makes a trip around Earth every 29.5 days.


But the orbit is not a perfect circle. One portion is about 31,000 miles (50,000 km) closer to our planet than the farthest part, so the moon's apparent size in the sky changes. Saturday night (Jan. 10) the moon will be at perigee, the closest point to us on this orbit.


It will appear about 14 percent bigger in our sky and 30 percent brighter than some other full moons during 2009, according to NASA. (A similar setup occurred in December, making that month's full moon the largest of 2008.)


High tides


Tides will be higher, too. Earth's oceans are pulled by the gravity of the moon and the sun. So when the moon is closer, tides are pulled higher. Scientists call these perigean tides, because they occur when the moon is at or near perigee. (The farthest point on the lunar orbit is called apogee.)


This month's full moon is known as the Wolf Moon from Native American folklore. The full moon's of each month are named. January's is also known as the Old Moon and the Snow Moon.


A full moon rises right around sunset, no matter where you are. That's because of the celestial mechanics that produce a full moon: The moon and the sun are on opposite sides of the Earth, so that sunlight hits the full face of the moon and bounces back to our eyes.


At moonrise, the moon will appear even larger than it will later in the night when it's higher in the sky. This is an illusion that scientists can't fully explain. Some think it has to do with our perception of things on the horizon vs. stuff overhead.


Try this trick, though: Using a pencil eraser or similar object held at arm's length, gauge the size of the moon when it's near the horizon and again later when it's higher up and seems smaller. You'll see that when compared to a fixed object, the moon will be the same size in both cases.


More lunacy


If you have other plans for Saturday night, take heart: You can see all this on each night surrounding the full moon, too, because the moon will be nearly full, rising earlier Friday night and later Sunday night.


Interestingly, because of the mechanics of all this, the moon is never truly 100 percent full. For that to happen, all three objects have to be in a perfect line, and when that rare circumstance occurs, there is a total eclipse of the moon.


A departing fact: The moon is moving away as you read this, by about 1.6 inches (4 centimeters) a year. Eventually this drift will force the moon to take 47 days to circle our world.

[Narnia]

EOWHA! Sounds exciting, I can't wait! THANKS for sharing that with us SoulChild! I'll be looking towards the ever beautiful heavens this starry night!

[SoulChild]

I was at a party this evening....and I forgot to look at the sky...I think I have some time to do it right now....

[Narnia]

We had a snowy night instead of a starry night, so we missed it completely! But that's okay, the Moon has been rather beautiful these last few nights!

[Narnia]

Unusual Green Comet Set to Pass Earth

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP.

WASHINGTON (Feb. 18) - An odd, greenish backward-flying comet is zipping by Earth this month, as it takes its only trip toward the sun from the farthest edges of the solar system. The comet is called Lulin, and there's a chance it can be seen with the naked eye — far from city lights, astronomers say. But you'll most likely need a telescope, or at least binoculars, to spot it.

The best opportunity is just before dawn one-third of the way up the southern sky. It should be near Saturn and two bright stars, Spica and Regula. On Monday at 10:43 p.m. EST, it will be 38 million miles from Earth, the closest it will ever get, according to Donald Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near Earth Object program.

The story behind the comet is more intriguing than its appearance — the greenish tinge may be hard for many to discern. The color comes from a type of carbon and cyanogen, a poisonous gas.

Lulin was discovered by a Chinese teenager two years ago. It still has many of its original gases — gases that are usually stripped away as comets near the sun. Unlike most comets viewable from Earth, this one hasn't been this close to the sun before, Yeomans said.

While all the planets and most of the other objects in the solar system circle the sun counterclockwise, Lulin circles clockwise, said NASA astronomer Stephen Edberg. And thanks to an optical illusion, from Earth it appears as if the comet's tail is in the front as the comet approaches Earth and the sun.

"It essentially is going backwards through the solar system," he said. It came from the outskirts of the solar system, 18 trillion miles away. Once it's made the journey around the sun, Lulin will gain enough speed to escape the solar system, Edberg said.

"If you are interested in comets, make sure you see it," he said. "But it's not going to be a real great blast for the general public."



Be sure to watch for the Green blaze in the nightsky Feb. 23. 2009! :biggrin

[SoulChild]

Huge gamma-ray blast spotted 12.2 bln light-years from earth

– The US space agency's Fermi telescope has detected a massive explosion in space which scientists say is the biggest gamma-ray burst ever detected, a report published Thursday in Science Express said.

The spectacular blast, which occurred in September in the Carina constellation, produced energies ranging from 3,000 to more than five billion times that of visible light, astrophysicists said.

"Visible light has an energy range of between two and three electron volts and these were in the millions to billions of electron volts," astrophysicist Frank Reddy of US space agency NASA told AFP.

"If you think about it in terms of energy, X-rays are more energetic because they penetrate matter. These things don't stop for anything -- they just bore through and that's why we can see them from enormous distances," Reddy said.

A team led by Jochen Greiner of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics determined that the huge gamma-ray burst occurred 12.2 billion light years away.

The sun is eight light minutes from Earth, and Pluto is 12 light hours away.

[userid7]

I thought you should know,just going on your name here, apparently mars if coming closer to earth
than it has been in 5000 years, I was reading it may be as visible as the moon.
I'm sorry I don't have an address, but I am sure the info can be found
with a little searching
Peace and Love,
DangerBird.

[Narnia]

Leonids Meteor Shower - Nov 17 2009

[SoulChild]

Thank you for the reminder good friend!

[Kiran]

Torrential wind and rain here so I don't think we'll get to it here

[SoulChild]

Rare New Year's Eve 'blue moon' to ring in 2010

Once in a blue moon there is one on New Year's Eve. Revelers ringing in 2010 will be treated to a so-called blue moon. According to popular definition, a blue moon is the second full moon in a month. But don't expect it to be blue — the name has nothing to do with the color of our closest celestial neighbor.

A full moon occurred on Dec. 2. It will appear again on Thursday in time for the New Year's countdown.

"If you're in Times Square, you'll see the full moon right above you. It's going to be that brilliant," said Jack Horkheimer, director emeritus of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium and host of a weekly astronomy TV show.

The New Year's Eve blue moon will be visible in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America and Africa. For partygoers in Australia and Asia, the full moon does not show up until New Year's Day, making January a blue moon month for them.

However, the Eastern Hemisphere can celebrate with a partial lunar eclipse on New Year's Eve when part of the moon enters the Earth's shadow. The eclipse will not be visible in the Americas.

A full moon occurs every 29.5 days, and most years have 12. On average, an extra full moon in a month — a blue moon — occurs every 2.5 years. The last time there was a lunar double take was in May 2007. New Year's Eve blue moons are rarer, occurring every 19 years. The last time was in 1990; the next one won't come again until 2028.
Blue moons have no astronomical significance, said Greg Laughlin, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

"`Blue moon' is just a name in the same sense as a `hunter's moon' or a `harvest moon,'" Laughlin said in an e-mail.

The popular definition of blue moon came about after a writer for Sky & Telescope magazine in 1946 misinterpreted the Maine Farmer's Almanac and labeled a blue moon as the second full moon in a month. In fact, the almanac defined a blue moon as the third full moon in a season with four full moons, not the usual three.

Though Sky & Telescope corrected the error decades later, the definition caught on. For purists, however, this New Year's Eve full moon doesn't even qualify as a blue moon. It's just the first full moon of the winter season.

In a tongue-in-cheek essay posted on the magazine's Web site this week, senior contributing editor Kelly Beatty wrote: "If skies are clear when I'm out celebrating, I'll take a peek at that brilliant orb as it rises over the Boston skyline to see if it's an icy shade of blue. Or maybe I'll just howl."

[Lion Spirit Walker]

This flew over Iowa the night before last. The video doesn't do it justice. It was very cool...
...

[planetlove]

I saw this on the news ..
Pretty cool stuff....